That Makes No Sense!
Tom Engelhardt on the joke that is national security
Tom Engelhardt
An editor in publishing for the last 25 years, Tom Engelhardt is the author
of The
End of Victory Culture, a history of American triumphalism in the Cold
War era, now out in a revised edition with a new preface and afterword, and Mission Unaccomplished, TomDispatch Interviews With American Iconoclasts and Dissenters.
He is at present consulting editor for Metropolitan Books, a fellow of the
Nation Institute, and a teaching fellow at the journalism school of the University of California, Berkeley.
Visit his Web site.
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US Empire of Bases Grows
It was Jan. 15, 2004, and TomDispatch had only been in existence for a year when Chalmers Johnson, author of the prophetic book Blowback (published in 2000 and a bestseller after the 9/11 attacks), did a piece for this site titled “America’s Empire of Bases.” He wrote then: “Due to government secrecy, our citizens are … Continue reading “US Empire of Bases Grows”
Obama’s Scramble for Africa
Nick Turse on the Pentagon’s ‘New Spice Route’
Why No One Notices Our MAD Planet
I can still remember sneaking with two friends into the balcony of some Broadway movie palace to see the world end. The year was 1959, the film was On the Beach, and I was 15. It was the movie version of Neville Shute’s still eerie 1957 novel about an Australia awaiting its death sentence from … Continue reading “Why No One Notices Our MAD Planet”
Washington’s Militarized Mindset
Americans may feel more distant from war than at any time since World War II began. Certainly, a smaller percentage of us — less than 1% — serves in the military in this all-volunteer era of ours and, on the face of it, Washington’s constant warring in distant lands seems barely to touch the lives … Continue reading “Washington’s Militarized Mindset”
Mad, Bad, Sad
Nan Levinson on PTSD
Playing for Time on Iran
Recently, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta finally said it. The U.S. is “fighting a war” in the Pakistani tribal belt. Similarly, observers are starting to suggest that “war” is the right word for the American air and special operations campaign against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in southern Yemen. (There have already been 23 U.S. … Continue reading “Playing for Time on Iran”
Till Death Do Us Part
“Do you do this in the United States? There is police action every day in the United States…. They don’t call in airplanes to bomb the place.” – Afghan President Hamid Karzai denouncing U.S. airstrikes on homes in his country, June 12, 2012 It was almost closing time when the siege began at a small … Continue reading “Till Death Do Us Part”
The New Obama Doctrine
Special Ops, Drones, Spy Games, Civilian Soldiers, Proxy Fighters, and Cyber Warfare
The Ultimate No-Fly List
Last week, touching down in India on his way to Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta described reality as you seldom hear it in the confines of Washington and, while he was at it, put his stamp of approval on a new global doctrine for the United States. Panetta is, of course, the man who, … Continue reading “The Ultimate No-Fly List”